diff --git a/java/external/src/org/xml/sax/helpers/XMLReaderFactory.java b/java/external/src/org/xml/sax/helpers/XMLReaderFactory.java
index 116f499..b3b75de 100644
--- a/java/external/src/org/xml/sax/helpers/XMLReaderFactory.java
+++ b/java/external/src/org/xml/sax/helpers/XMLReaderFactory.java
@@ -109,8 +109,8 @@ final public class XMLReaderFactory
         ClassLoader	loader = NewInstance.getClassLoader ();
         
         // 1. try the JVM-instance-wide system property
-        try { className = System.getProperty (property); }
-        catch (RuntimeException e) { /* normally fails for applets */ }
+        try { className = ss.getSystemProperty (property); }
+        catch (Exception e) { /* normally fails for applets */ }
         
         // 2. if that fails, try META-INF/services/
         if (className == null) {